Kennedy, Cardinals blow past Cubs

Sep 19, 2008 - 11:41 PM
CHICAGO (Ticker) -- A day after saying he wanted out of St.
Louis, Adam Kennedy put his money where his mouth is.

The veteran infielder hit a grand slam and drove in five runs to
lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 12-6 victory over the Chicago
Cubs on Friday.

Kennedy capped a five-run first inning with his second career
slam and added an RBI single an inning later as the Cardinals
snapped out of their recent funk with eight runs in the first
two frames against All-Star righthander Carlos Zambrano.
Earlier in the day, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Kennedy
wanted to be traded since manager Tony La Russa no longer
considers him a full-time starter.

"I don't know. I'm not thinking that much into it," Kennedy
said. "I am just trying to work with (hitting coach Hal McRae)
on my swing when I am not playing, and things came together for
me today."

"He had a good day. His performance was huge for us," La Russa
said. "You talk about adding on runs in a game, and he did that
for us all day ... I admire him, I respect him and if I was him,
I would want to play, too."

Kennedy got the start on Friday and came through with one of the
finest offensive performances of his career. His four hits were
his most since a 4-for-4 effort on May 23, 2006 against the
Texas Rangers, and the five RBI were the most since his
three-homer day for Anaheim in Game Seven of the 2002 American
League Championship Series.

Kennedy's first-inning shot on Friday was just his second homer
of the season.

"We put together some good at-bats early on, and today was a fun
win for us, especially with what is at stake for everyone,"
Kennedy said.

Zambrano (14-6) followed up the best outing of his career - a
no-hitter last Sunday against the Houston Astros - with one of
his worst. He failed to get out of the second inning for just
the third time in his career, giving up eight runs and six hits
while walking three and striking out one.

Despite appearing to be in peak condition in his last start
following recent arm troubles, Zambrano may not have been in his
best mental state of mind on Friday. His grandmother died
earlier this week and Zambrano flew to Venezuela on Wednesday to
attend the funeral and be with his family.

"My arm is fine. My legs were tired from traveling up and back
to Venezuela," Zambrano said. "Thank God, as a family, we were
able to be together and take care of this sad situation the
right way."

He returned to Chicago on Thursday night and was back on the
mound less than a day later.

"That is no excuse, I came in ready today," Zambrano said. "But
you have to go attend (the funeral), so you just try and battle
to help your team win a ballgame."

The Cardinals got to him right away, as their first four hitters
reached base before Zambrano retired Troy Glaus on a flyout to
right-center field. But Kennedy immediately followed with a
blast to left that made it 5-0.

Zambrano failed to regain control the next inning, allowing Ryan
Ludwick to score on a wild pitch and giving up an RBI single by
Felipe Lopez and a walk to Glaus before finally being yanked.

"That's why you can never figure out this game," La Russa said.
"Zambrano is as good as anybody in the league. Sometimes early
on, before you get settled, you give up a couple of hits and the
inning can get away from you."

Ludwick added a two-run homer in the fifth inning off Angel
Guzman. He scored three runs on the day, giving him a team-high
100 for the season.

Cardinals righthander Adam Wainwright (10-3) worked five
innings, giving up two runs and four hits while striking out
five and walking three.

"I didn't have good stuff today. In fact, my stuff was very
average," Wainwright said. "I did make a few good pitches in
certain situations to get out of some jams, but the story today
was our team putting up runs against one of the toughest
pitchers."

Lopez went 2-for-4 and scored twice for the Cardinals, who have
won two straight after dropping seven in a row.